Bigger Hearts or Preparing Hearts for His Glory

[livedailey]

Hi,
This will be my first year homeschooling my children. I am trying to decide which program to use for all 3 of my children. My daughter is 10 (5th grade), my oldest son is 9 (4th grade) and my youngest is 7 (2nd grade). I have looked at the program selection chart, program placement chart and the scope and sequence chart. I am leaning toward Preparing Hearts but not sure how to scale it down for my younger son. Does anyone have any advice as to which would be the best placement? The only reason I am thinking of Preparing Hearts instead of Bigger Heart is because my youngest will turn 8 in January and is already reading reading on a 3rd grade level; however, he falls more within the scope of Bigger Hearts with everything else. My oldest will be 11 in October and my son just turned 9. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

[cirons]

Hi there,

I would definitely lean towards Bigger Hearts and beef it up for your older 2. I would not do Preparing with such a young one. It is a big program, especially for your first year. You may need the Preparing manual just for the older dictation levels though.

HTH,

Corrie

[kayrenee]

Agreeing... Go with Bigger and add the extensions for older ones. There are several reasons for that, but one reason for me personally would be because the history books in Bigger are definitely geared to the higher end of comprehension level, IMO. (And some of the science, too... I'm having to do more hands-on with her and find other books to help explain the science.) I recently started using Bigger with my 8 (almost 9) yo who places squarely in Bigger for the 3 R's according to the chart, but the history and science readings are above her head. I find that I'm having to read the text and THEN narrate it to her in my own words so that she can understand, because she doesn't remember anything from me just reading it to her.

I've heard others say the same thing about the Eggleston books. *I* love them, but they're a little too "high" for my girl. But she IS loving the poetry, Bible, and some other components of Bigger, so we'll keep plugging along.

My point is that if you go with Preparing and try to ease it up for the youngest, you may have even more difficulty. Without other books scheduled that are geared to the younger age (there's more to it than just how well he can read the book), you'd end up doing a whole separate program for the 8yo, anyway. It's easier to add more writing assignments or more copywork to the LA in Bigger for an older child, for example, than it is to try to make the LA in Preparing work with a child who just isn't there yet.

Just my experience.

[beverett]

Hello livedaily,
First of all, I am soo excited for you!! We absolutelty love homeschooling our boys .. I just want to say that I completely agree with the other 2 posters. I would also choose Bigger and do extensions for your daughter, if doing 2 guides is not an option (If 2 guides is an option and your daughter fits onto Preparing then I would put her in there and the boys in Bigger together). Before we started last year, I reeeeally wanted to try preparing for my 9yr old and possibly take my 7 yr old alongor do 4 guides all at once. I asked the ladies here and they suggested Bigger for both of my middle boys, meaning we would do just three guides. I went with their suggestion and started using Bigger with my 7 and 9 year old sons. I am sooo glad I did.

The biggest reason I would suggest Bigger is that the guides are very "meaty". There is more than enough to challenge your older son and even your daughter when the extensions are added for her. It would be so much better to add for your daughter than to try and pull it down for your 7 yr old ds. Also it is best to go lower when you are coming from a public school or even a private school, in my opinion. Next, because your 7 yr old is a boy it is a good idea to consider the amount of writing in the two guides. Even the amount in Bigger was a challenge for my 7yr old son when we started. I hope this all makes sense, I am in a hurry tyiping it up... I will check back later to see

[livedailey]

Thanks for the suggestions. I really appreciate it. After reviewing both Bigger and Preparing and all of the comment, I think it is better for me to start with Bigger and use the extension package for my daughter. It does seem better to scale everything up verses scaling back for my youngest. I do not want him to get lost but participate. I am even considering doing Beyond Little Hearts for him and Bigger for my older 2 since the reading may be a little above his head. The other thought is to do 3 separte programs. Any thoughts???

[beverett]

Thats sounds good too... I was wandering if you could maybe print out the placement chart (1 for each child) and go through each column and circle where you feel each child places best... Then we would have a better idea where to suggest. If you have already looked over it well (which I think you said that you have), then you have a couple of options.
I would probably not try 3 guides if you do not have to, but the other options I think sound good.

1) daughter in Preparing (if you think she places here solid, for example do you think she can do her own science readings?), 2 sons in Bigger (if youngest can keep up)
2)all three dc in Bigger with extensions for daughter (again only if younger son fits here)
3)younger son in Beyond, and older 2 in Bigger with extensions for daughter

Although you will know your children best, I think I like the number three choice. I bet your 7 ds would really enjoy Beyond and would not just get pulled in the readings and writing of Bigger. At first, we all had to wait on my 7 ds (when doing Bigger) to finish note-booking and vocab. cards and copywork, which we did not mind, just something to think on. In this option, the older two would be together, but daughter would have some independent stuff in her extensions.
What do you think?

[livedailey]

Brandi,
I think I like your option 3 the best as well. I think that only option 1 or 2 will work only if my youngest can keep up with the History and Science in Bigger. My youngest has been introduced to the parts of speech already and is able to write simple sentences. I may be able to use the Preparing 2 Build for the language arts for him as well. Thanks so much for your input. It has been really helpful. By the way, I am not really familiar with some of the abbreviations. What does dc, ds mean?

[beverett]

Ooops, I am so sorry I wasn't either, it took me a while to figure it out... ds is dear son and dc is dear child or children (I think), thats what I decided after reading other posts for a while. This is really the first forum I have ever been a part of The ladies here are so wonderful!! You will be so blessed by Heart of Dakota and it is such a plus to have the ladies on this board who are so helpful to come and ask questions to! I really think you could do the Rod and Staff 2 with your son also very easily with Beyond! I think all of that sounds great!! I pray you will have a blessed and peaceful start to your journey